Container closure



Dec. 22, 1931. c, SNYDER 1,837,376

CONTAINER CLOSURE Original Filed Dec. 17, 1926 INVENTOR.

66mg, Cfln ycler' BY ATTORNEY.

' used, it is necessary to pierce or p '15 paper closure, and the milk will frequently 40 combined thicknesses of which Patented Deed 22, 1931 "UNITED, ST i res GEORGE G. SNYDER, OF ELIvII-IUBST, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE GUARDIAN TRUST COMPANY, OF OLEVELAND, 01-110, A CORPORATION OF OHIO CONTAINER cnosunn Application filed December 17, 15526; Serial No. 155,440. Renewedjtlarch 16, 1931.

' "the mouths of such wide mouthed bottles, as milk bottles, although the inventionhas a broader aspect, as will be clear herefrom.

The disk closures'commonly usedfor milk bottles, for example,

stock, and, if plain, ordinary disks, they are diliicult of removal unless a sharp instrument, suchas an'ice pick,.is used, and when is deform the squirt out; the disk becomes unsanitary and unsightly, besides admitting air into the bottle when placed back. These are only some of a number of objections to such plain closures. So far as those closures-of paper stock are concerned, which are provided with fold lines in the disks; with folds in the material of the entire disk; with tabs orother small finger holds disks; they have presented a number of ob jections which it is unnecessary to recount,

as those familiar with this art are aware of the weaknesses of such partially successful :losures.

The closure body is preferably laminated, which means that preferably each lamination is practically a continuous complete and unbroken one, for which reason it'is possible to embody in eachclosure at least two adhesively combined laminations, each of which consists of thin yet somewhat stiff sheet inaterial, the laminations forming a. complete and practically unbroken closure unit, and the laminations may be of less thickness than the entire thickness of any of the paper use today, with the consequent result that a stronger closure is obtained by the use of less paper stock, and this is an important economical factor in the manufacture of such closures, no matter what the material of the closure may be. i V

Under the present invention in container closures, each closureis provided preferably are composed of paper I and with staples whereby many 25 of such tabs and finger holds are held to the manufacture of the closures each is preferably folded and laid down upon the bottle closures in i closure itself. The preferred form of the handling portion for the closure is one which extends throughout the width of the closure and which is made from the material thereof, and 1t preferably extends from a practically invisible line extending across the top of the closure. An advantage ofsuch closure handling portlon is that it greatly relnforces the body of the closure across its weakestportion, and also that a pull on the closure to remove it from a bottle, for exam-j ple, is distributed throughout the entire width of the closure, thus readily enabling an easy removal of a closure, which, under the present invention, it ispossible to handle conveniently and to more tightly seal it into a bottle, for example, than heretofore.

r orrrcn In addition to the above advantages and objects of the present invention,'it remains to mention along the general lines of breadth of the invention, the preferred manner in which the handling portion is connected with the closure itself. The handling portion may extend across the closure as one flap or there may be two flaps, but in either case each flap is preferably simply a single flap. In the of the, flaps tops of the closures, and each may have a set in the material thereof or it may be held down to the top of the closure by a slight connection, such asby a minute amount from the top of the closure when a person in serts a finger-nail under the edge of the flap and then lifts it to a position extending away of adhesive which will permit the flap to be readily detached, at such slight connection,

the closures to be manufactured and provided with such originally laid down handling portions with great facility, as the closure-stock may be punched in the manner common in the punching out of plain disks.

Generally speaking, therefore, the chief objects of the present invention are to provide an improved simple and reliable bottle closure, and to provide an improved closure which may be easily and chez ply manufactured at. low costs, not only because of the simple method of manufacture which may be used, but because of the manner in which there may be utilized and combined, the sl cet material necessary to make up the ultimate container closures. Incidentally also, the invention involves the manufactu 'e of an im proved container closure stock from which the closures may be punched v 1th just greatease and facility as plain disks of paper material are punched out.

These being among the objects of the present invention, the same consists in certain features of construction in the products, such as container closures and the stock from which they are punched, as will hereinafter be specifically described and then 0 aimed with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred embodiments of the novel features of the invention, and in which Fig. 1 is a plan of the improved closure;

Fig. 2 is a section thereof on the line (Fig. 1)

Fig. 3 is a section of the mouth portion of a milk bottle, for example, into which the improved closure is sealed, the closure being shown in section together with its handling portion or portions, and the latter being shown in dotted lines in upwardly raised position;

Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the upper and mouth portion of a bottle into which the improved closure is sealed, and showing how the handling portion or portions of the closure are grasped by the fingers of one s hand so as to pull the closure out of the mouth of the container or bottle:

Fig. 5 is a section through the closure alon a line parallel with the handling portion or portions, showing in just what manner th fingers may firmly take hold of the handling portion or portions;

Fig. 6 is a plan of fragmentary portion of the improved stock from which the olesures may be punched, the outlines of the punches being indicates in dotted lines: and

7 is an end view of the stock a shown in F 6, clearly showing the 3 ferred laminations.

Referring to Figs. 1, f2 and ll of the drawings, it is assumed that the b0 y 10 of "he container closure and the handling portions 11, 12 constitute unit in which the parts are integral, because such is really or s1. .tantially so to the ordinary observer, or, in the complete closure. However, as will appear herefrom later on, the body of the closure is preferably actually composed of at least two laminations, while a handling portion 11 or 12 extends from one of the laminations. Then the closure is intended for milk bottles or the like it is preferably entirely composed of paper stock, except for a slight amount of adhesive. lVhen the closure is made of pager stock the same may be of the kind usually employed for milk bottle closures, and the thickness of the body of the closure may be less than the thickness of such ordinary closures, hence it may involve the use of less paper stock, but with suliicient strength of closure in consequence of the preferred construction and the manner of making it. Preferably the body 10 of the closure is of constant size, that is dimensions in the plane thereof.

i l hen two handling portions l1, 12 are provided, they are preferably connected with the closure at a line 13 which is practically an invisible one, but in such manner that the handling portions 11, 12 may be raised from the folded down position, shown in full lines in Figs. 2 and 3, to the dotted line position, shown in F 3, so that the handling portions may be mutually grasped by the lingers for the purpose of removingthe closure. F 4 and 5 show the manner in which the handling portions may be manipulated with a view to removing the closure from the mouth of a milk bottle, for instance.

In the manufacture of the improved closures preferably the lines along which the handling portions l1, 12 fold are made with a set of the material, that is to say, by more or less straining or deforming the material. at those lines to cause the handling portions to normally lie flat, in the nature of a third layer or lamination, upon the top surface of the closure, or, for this latter purpose, the set of the material may be omitted, if desired, and the handling portions held down by a very minute amount of adhesive or other slight connection between each handling portion. and the adjacent surface of the closure. In either case, the finger nail of a person may be engaged under the edge of the handling portion layer, and the same easily raised by overcoming the slight set in the material or by easily breaking the slight connection referred to.

Preferably the handling port-ions of the closure, whether one handling portion or a pair of them is provided, is in the nature of a truss-like flap, the narrowest dimension of which is transverse of its fold line and the longest dimension of which extends from edge to eda'e of the closure, and preferably also the fold line of each handling portion or flap ex tends diametrically of the closure, so that when two handling portions or flaps are employed, their fold lines will both coincide sub- 11, 12 is preferably produced in the single,

' stantially with the diameter of the closure, that is to say it is preferably that the folds of the two handling portions or, flaps directly lie to both sides of a substantially invisible line which actually does coincide with the" diameter of the closure.

particularly in connection with closures of paper stock, but with more or less obvious modification, no matter what the outline of the closure may be. For example, the out line of the closures may be circular or square or oblong or in any other preferred contour. When the closures have a circular outlineand when the handling portions or flaps extend for the length of the diameter of such disk shaped closures, the end edges of the flap or flaps are preferably rounded, as shown at 14, 15, so as to conform with the curvature of the body 10 of the closure at thetime whenfthe closures are sealing the entire contents of :a

container and before the flaps are operated to. open the container. Specifically, this corre-' spondence in circularity of the edge of the closure body 10 and the end edges of the flaps step of punching the closures out of the closure stock which is preferably provided.

The preferred container closure which has been described possesses a number of other advantages which are incidental to the preferred method of manufacture, which will be the subject of another application.

Referring to Figures 6 and 7 thelaminated closure stock is illustrated. The main body of the stock is constituted by the layer or lamination &9 which is formed from a wide web, while a second lamination is formed by the portions 50, 51, 52 from narrower or minor webs having the oppositely folded over edge portions 52, 58. A third, but narrow, layer or lamination would be formed by the folded down portions. By reason of the manner in 'which it, is preferred to turn over and fold down the edge portions 52, 53, practically invisible lines of separation 54 are formed between the adjacent folds 52, 53. In Fig. 7 the laminated character of the stock is distinctly shown,

I whereas the figures illustrating the ultimate closure do not indicate the laminated charac-' ter because the sheet material is so compacted and condensed that each closure is practically one integral body. Fig. 'Z also shows the little adhesive or other connections 55 which may be formed between the folded over portions and" the lamination from which they emanate. 1

Referring again to Fig. 6 it will be seen that when a method of production is carried out so as to produce closure stock which is of at least double width for obtaining closures, the closures may of the stock so as to form two rows 56, 57, and may be cut from the stock in staggered to without departing from The above conditions are preferred more portion and its flap being ntegral. 5

be punched out relation, thereby minimizing waste of stock.

In addition to the various changes and modifications suggested herein, it. isobvious to "those skilled in' the art that many other modificationsand changes may be resorted the spirit of the invention as expressed in the scope of the appended claims. I I

What I claim as new is:

'1.? A containerclosure having two separate, mutually coactable handling members which normally extend in opposite direc tions away from, a diameter ofthe closure" and which have a set inthe material of each of them whereby they are forced to lie flat upon the body of the closure.

2. A container closure composed of adhering laminations of paper material, the top lamination comprising two sheet portions which are merely separated by a practically invisible line of separation, and closure handling members extending from the two sheet portions at the line'of separation, the handling members constituting flaps. r 3. ii container closure composed of adhering: laminations of paper materiahthe top laminations comprising two sheet portions which are merelyseparated by a practically invisible line' of'separation, and closurehan vdiing members extending from the two sheet portions at the line of'separation, the handling members constituting flaps, eachsheet 4. *A. container closure'composed of adherring laminations of paper material, the toplamin'ation comprisingtwo sheet portions which are merely separated by a practically separation, and closure han- I dling members extending from the two sheet 1 invisible line of portions at the line of separation, the handling members, constituting flaps, eachsheet and the portion and its flap being integral, juncture between them having a set whereby the flaps are normallycaused to lie flatupon the top lamination. p

5. Acontainer closure'composed of adhering laminations of paper material, the top lamination comprising two sheet portions which'are merely separated by a practically invisible line'of separation, and closure handling members extending from the two sheet portions at the line of separation, the handling members constituting flaps, each sheet portion and its flap being integral, and the juncture bet-ween them having a set whereby the flaps are'normally caused to lie flat upon the top lamination, the entire closure being of permanent disk shape and the flaps extending from edge to edge thereof, with the end edges of the flaps rounded to substantially the curvature of the edge of the closure.

6. A laminated closure, having two similar portions in its upper lamination, the ads jacent edges of which portions meet along the diameter of the closure and are provided with independent flaps.

7. Laminated closure stock, comprising two layers of flexible sheet material, the upper of which includes two lengths of the material, one of which lengths is provided with a free, turned-0ver edge portion, the soformed strip being severable into containerclosures.

8. Laminated closure-stock, comprising two layers of flexible sheet material, the upper of which includes two lengths of the material, the adjacent edge-portions of which lengths of material are turned over longitudinally and in opposite directions.

9. Laminated closure-stock, comprising two layers of flexible sheet material, the upper one of which includes two lengths of the material, the adjacent edge-portions of which are turned over longitudinally and in opposite directions, and means for normally holding down the oppositely turned-over edge portions upon the remainder of the two lengths.

10. Laminated closure-stock, comprising two layers of flexible sheet material, the upper of which includes two lengths of the material, the adjacent edge-portions of which are turned over longitudinally and in opposite directions, and an adhesive connection between the turned-over edge-portions and the remainder of the two lengths for normally holding said portions down.

11. A laminated closure composed of sheet material, the laminations formed from sepa rate stock and the upper lamination formed with a flap substantially the width of the closure, and normally resting upon a lamination.

12. Laminated closure stock, comprising two layers of flexible sheet material of substantially the same area, one of which is provided with a freely movable edge portion, the so-formed stock being separable into container closures.

GEORGE C. SNYDER. 

